We have reached the Greenleaf Whittier part of the season

Over the last 200 years, few writers have penned a more poignant line than John Greenleaf Whittier in 1856:

“For all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest words are these: It might have been.”

No line truer describes the 2026 Temple football season than that one.

Imagine a couple of things:

One, what if Ajani Sheppard’s breakout game wasn’t his 48-point performance at Toledo but a game at home against Penn State?

Maybe the Owls win that one, 27-26, instead of losing it 26-9.

How about if Temple recovered the onsides kickoff at Toledo?

Three interceptions against ECU are unacceptable because that’s one more interception than Evan Simon had in a dozen games.

That game is 42-28 good guys, not 49-48 bad guys.

What if Temple head coach K.C. Keeler went with his instincts and demoted DC Brian L. Smith after a woeful Homecoming effort against UConn instead of waiting for a more woeful one against Charlotte?

Maybe Charlotte becomes a 31-14 win instead of a 38-31 loss.

What might have been indeed.

I had my misgivings as early as Cherry and White Day. Although I was impressed with Jaxon Smolik’s three touchdown passes, I texted Evan Simon’s dad that none of these quarterbacks impressed me nearly as much as Evan did on the previous Cherry and White Day. They didn’t allow Smolik to get hit and Sheppard reminded me of Chester Stewart.

Except for the Chester Stewart piece, it turned out I was right. Sheppard is WAY better than Stewart, yet Stewart was the quarterback in a 38-7 win at Maryland and a 63-32 win at Army. Yet it was Sheppard, not Stewart, who couldn’t get the job done against UConn.

Story of the season.

Still thought 6-6 was possible but that’s where I was wrong.

Instead, tomorrow’s game against UAB (1 p.m., ESPN+) will determine only if the Owls have given up or they have some fight left in them and, even then, that won’t be saying much. They are playing to have the same record they had a year ago despite keeping pretty much the same roster and the same coaching staff.

Don’t know about the players, but it’s really too much for the fans. I’ve had season tickets for 40 years but this will be one of the five games I will miss in those 40 years.

What’s the point?

Freezing my ass off to see the Owls POTENTIALLY lose? If a hardcore fan like me misses the game, what does that say about the 21,112 “softcore” fans who made the UConn game only to leave bitterly disappointed?

Not gonna do it. I will be rooting my warm ass off for my guys from home.

Freezing our f’ing asses off to see a 2-7 team? No thanks.

The defense–with the exception of USF–has been abysmal. The offense has given away the rock way too much.

Temple fans have checked out.

I will be surprised if 5,000 Temple fans show up and I will not blame a single fan. I will blame the product. These fans had to endure five-straight 3-9 seasons and a 5-7 season after that.

They were told things would get better this year.

They are not to blame. The temperature will be 44 degrees at best with wind gusts up to 34mph. The team that is better mentally will win. Temple was not better mentally against UConn, Charlotte and ECU so Owl fans are in a show-me mode against UAB.

The product is to blame and it must improve.

We detailed what happened in this space the last time. Temple’s defense gets no takeaways and its offense gives the ball away way too much.

A year ago, Temple protected the ball on a national level with 25 touchdown passes against only two interceptions. Last time out, Temple threw three interceptions.

For a team that does not ballhawk on the other side, that’s a disastrous combination.

Against UAB Temple must get interceptions on one side and protect the ball on its side and, judging from what has happened in the first nine games, that’s a lot to ask.

Maybe too much.

Late Saturday Night: UAB Analysis

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